Vonn moves closer to the magic mark of 2000 points

March 3rd, 2012

Vonn turns up the gas to close in on Overall World Cup point’s record with second in Ofterschwang GS

Lindsey Vonn turned up the heat with a devastating second run in Ofterschwang that lifted her from sixth to second … and so nearly took the win. Vonn, who admitted that her recent trip to New York had refreshed her after feeling lethargic during the races in Bansko, knew that closing the gap to first run leader Viktoria Rebensburg, 1.68 seconds, would be a daunting task. “My coach set the second run and I went for it,” she explained. Standing in the finish seeing the advantage Rebensburg had ebb away, Vonn felt she could maybe win but in the end Rebensburg had just enough to win with Tina Maze taking third and Anna Fenninger fourth.

Back during the races in St Moritz in January, the spectre of beating the 2000 World Cup point mark set by Hermann Maier, started to look possible admitted Vonn. With points being gained across the board this year, especially in the technical events, Vonn has something to aim for now that most of the individual disciplines are almost decided. “Last year I was struggling to make fifteenth and this year, well, things are much better,” she explained. “This is only my third career podium, so I am really excited with this result.”

For Anna Fenninger, this was another fourth place: “I do not know how many fourth places I have had in my career: I know there is always one girl that has to be fourth. I am not disappointed as I had a lot of mistakes on the second run.”

Lizz Goergl produced a stunning fightback on the second run that at one stage looked like it would end with her skiing out. A major loss of speed almost saw the Austrian HEAD World Cup Rebel grind to a halt: “I have the feeling that I could have done more with the result. The result counts but not what I could have done,” she explained.

With two races to go, the Globe still up for grabs yet Rebensburg is now recognised as odds on favourite for it. Vonn is now in second for the Giant Slalom with a deficit of 135 points on Rebensburg yet is almost 500 points ahead in the race for the Overall ahead of Maze with Maria Hoefl-Riesch in third, Lizz Goergl in fourth and Anna Fenninger in sixth.